CAPITAL NEEDS
Many thanks to all who attended last Saturday’s Fix-It Dinner! Together, we raised $2,000 towards installing safety equipment such as cameras. It was also a great social event for our community. Special thanks to chefs Greg, Steve and Greg for the delicious food!
Speaking of safety equipment and other capital needs, you might notice a change in the next batch of contribution envelopes you receive. We’ve replaced the Maintenance envelope with one called the St. Matthew Capital Needs Fund. It’s a broader category, more useful for planning and accounting purposes.
Capital needs, security equipment, routine maintenance: none of those things is our mission. Rather, they support our mission to be a Catholic community that is a visible expression of God’s love. We take care of our buildings, so that we can continue to feed the hungry (Loaves & Fishes), shelter the homeless (Casa Guadalupana), and heal the sick (St. Mary’s free clinic)—to name some of our specific missions.
I don’t want to overlook the care shown for our church building. That was recently highlighted with Craig David and Richard Schletty’s September 25 talk about their paintings in the church. Thank you, Craig and Richard!
SPEAKING OF VOLUNTEERING
Ever since I began at St. Matt’s last year, I’ve been impressed by how many volunteers we have. (Clean Up days come to mind, e.g., October 15.) It’s easy to see that volunteerism is an integral part of our parish culture.
Put another way, we’re not a “consumer church”, i.e., one where people simply buy spiritual goods. (History shows that that never ends well!) It’s better to be actively engaged, sharing our time, treasure and talent.
And speaking of active engagement, I want to highlight long-time St. Matt’s volunteer Marge Blenkush’s forthcoming “book release party”. Her first novel, The Doctor of Bellechester, was recently published. Marge will be at both Masses next weekend (October 8-9), for those wanting to buy a copy. (I’ve heard great reviews!) Two weeks later, she’ll lead book discussions after both Masses. I know I’m looking forward to reading and discussing her book!
Have a great week!
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